Whether you are planning an internal promotion or deciding on a new job to apply for, consider several key job features that help boost your career growth. Use them to evaluate your opportunities and pick the shortest path to success.
When corporate employees or private customers come to me a bit confused about their next career move, I suggest starting with clarifying what they expect from a new job. And about 90% of them prioritize three things:
- A higher pay.
- An opportunity to develop new highly-demanded professional skills.
- Working for a high-profile company with a “big name”.
Totally makes sense, right? Otherwise, why even bother changing your current position? The problem is, most candidates usually don’t go far beyond this short list though it’s way too broad to translate into an actionable plan. I mean, how many jobs, even within a specific industry, will match the requirements? No wonder they get confused.
Career reality check: less is more
Having only a basic understanding of what you want next in your career is not enough to get laser-focused and target the right jobs. It may even paralyze your efforts because the task will seem overwhelming. When we know we can do anything, we usually end up doing nothing – or going through the motions to support the illusion of being productive.
For example, some of my clients “boasted” about applying for 100+ or 200+ jobs (I am not exaggerating). And… they never heard back. Why? Because no one can thoroughly customize 100 applications, so all these resumes and cover letters sounded generic and didn’t address key pain points of a specific job or employer. Recruiters absolutely hate that and are more likely to reject such candidates.
That’s why the best strategy is to select a few great opportunities and go all in for each, one at a time. The question is, how do you pick the best options?
Besides the pay, technical mastery, and a big-name employer, there are other – less evident – job features that facilitate exponential career growth. They are:
Involvement in multi-location projects
Working on multi-locational, international, or global projects boosts your visibility and influence among multiple stakeholders. While building relationships with people with diverse backgrounds, you may also get in touch with cutting-edge technology or the latest research in the industry. On top of that, such jobs help you establish new connections with key decision-makers that would be beyond your reach otherwise. And score several additional points for each geographic location you are working with: the more, the better.
Scaling up the level of leadership and team size
If you are brand new to managerial roles, remember that the experience of supervising even one employee can add a valuable transferrable skill to your next resume. For established leaders, increasing the number of their team members will work wonders and open a path to new opportunities on a larger scale that require extensive leadership skills.
Exposure to a new niche of customers or partners
Servicing new clients will directly increase your business’ income streams; working with new partners will expose you to their client base – to the same effect. Just keep in mind that you should only consider new niches that are viable (that is, provide a steady demand for your services and are open to doing business).
Reversal of the target audience within the same market
I mean a significant change of your job perspective and clientele, let’s say, shifting from an accountant to auditor or changing your role from a health insurance customer rep to a broker. Other examples include retail/wholesale, purchasing/sales, product development/product launch, etc. Such transitions facilitate a 3D vision and in-depth understanding of the entire market and give you a competitive advantage making you more valuable to potential employers.
Working with the local community groups and representatives
Keep in mind: the very minute you start working with community representatives, your role becomes political. And, to be blunt, politics means power. Along with increased visibility and exposure, it will make you more important and influential within the team.
Reporting to executive or C-level stakeholders
Here comes an opportunity to shine and secure buy-ins for your ideas and solutions from the most powerful decision-makers in the company. When new opportunities arise, leaders prefer to hire or promote someone they know to be great. Make sure your presentations and pitches are factually accurate and engaging, and your career growth will become a reality sooner rather than later.
When deciding on your next career step, compare your options based on these factors and select the best. Same with your job search: first prioritize job listings that offer the above features and apply for them before moving on to other projects. And always give preference to the roles that allow you to kill two (or more) birds with one stone.